“Kind of domineering aren’t you?”
“Very.”
“You would die for her?”
“In a heartbeat.” He snarled and displayed his fangs and claws then stripped to shift.
“I have to say her taste in men has definitely improved.” His tone turned serious. “Bring her and Melanie back and I’ll help you find a ring.”
Dirk threw him a wolfish grin. “Done.”
“Wait, maybe I should come and help?”
“No. Too risky. Stay here. Wait for Melanie’s return.” Might as well give him hope. “When help arrives, tell them what’s going on.”
“Won’t the bad wolves smell you coming?”
“I’m a master at stalking prey. I plan to roll in marsh mud to lessen my scent. Werewolves often comment the Benandanti rely too much on their human behavior for their own good.”
Josh scoffed. “They know you’ll come for her.”
“Fucking, duh.” He sighed. “I won’t do anything foolish. I’m counting on Dora to initiate the escape. Once she and Melanie are safe, Theo and his betas will suffer my wrath.” He began the bone breaking, loud dislocating popping process of shifting. In seconds, he was the fierce werewolf. Josh and Marti cowered back. Apparently, they’d only seen the partial wolfish shift, not the Hollywood version monster. Packs never allowed his kind to go werewolf in front of humans. Such rules no longer mattered, not since the Bane.
The wood creaked under his weight as he pounded clawed feet to the railing. He turned, nodded at them with his monstrous head and then leapt to the ground. On all fours and with werewolf speed, he dashed into the nearby marsh.
****
Theo shoved her into a jeep and drove off. Dora glared at him. “So, why are you keeping a witch alive?”
“We need your blood to create a new Bloodstone, since the damn ravens stole it.”
“Tell you what, I can let you have a few tubes of my blood and we’ll call it even.”
He muttered in Latin and sneered. “You poor creatures do not know what evil possesses you.”
“Evil? My mother was a nurse and I’m a doctor. What kind of evil are you referring to?”
“The devil.”
“Sorry, but I’m a non-believer. And in my book, those that hurt children and burn women at the stake are the real bad guys.”
He snarled. “Silence!”
She suppressed a satisfied smile.
Got to you, asshole
. In less than ten minutes, they arrived at an abandoned winery with a stately home and nearby cellar. Outside the gate, a swarm of at least fifty zombies walked around aimlessly. Some looked like city escapees, but most looked like farm workers and a few hippie types, maybe former local pot growers. One still had a rifle slung around his shoulder. About twenty feet from the house, the cellar door appeared pushed as if zombies had tried to get out. Is that where they kept Mel? A flash of anger coursed through her at how frightened she must be. Dora took a breath and calmed her instinct to lash out at him. “Please, return my niece to my brother.”
He pulled in front of the gate and parked. “Melanie will be placed in a more suitable home with a human couple.”
“What are you getting at?” Dirk had said the Benandanti were homophobic, but how would he know?
“Your step-brother sins against the laws of God. I smelled what he is, a lover of men.”
Was that even possible? Her body tensed as it always did when confronted by prejudice. “A human God? Weren’t you guys excommunicated from the Church?” Dirk had mentioned why the Benandanti broke all contact with humans.
“We continued with our holy order, despite the fears of the small-minded Church.” He spoke in Latin and then translated the gist of it. “We have been commanded by the Lord in Heaven to combat the devil and his denizens of evil from dusk to dawn.”
“The only denizens of evil are those outside our car. Although, truth is they’re not evil, just hungry.” She was tempted to tell him about the Protean, as a possible culprit of releasing Z-phage on humankind. No point. She doubted he’d believe her.
Ten zombies crowded around their jeep, fogging the windows with their hungry mouths. The others around the property quit shaking the fence and honed in on the new food delivery. He ignored them. “The Bane is punishment against human sins.”
She frowned. “Was it your kind that released the zombie pestilence?” Maybe they conspired with the reptilian shifter.
“It was God.” His eyes glazed in religious fervor.
There was no reason for him to lie. Known to be anti-science, the Benandanti didn’t have the technical resources necessary to develop, manufacture and distribute military level contagions. Besides, why would they destroy all weapons of mass destruction? Unless, the Proteans did it for them.
Theo took the keys out of the ignition. “Stay inside.” He opened the door, went partial werewolf, and grabbed a zombie that stood in his way, snapping his neck. The other zombies continued their attention on her. Banging the windows with their arms and some with their heads, painting the window black with their zombie blood. He strode to the gate and unlocked it. Theo casually strode back to the car, killing two on his way and took the driver’s seat. He accelerated from zero to sixty miles per hour and drove through the open gate, jumped out and closed it. One zombie shambled in, but Theo swiped its neck with his paw, decapitating it. He threw the head and then body over the fence.
Two men, dressed in black like Theo, walked out of the lighted house. A generator on the side of the house hummed. Dirk would not stand a chance, not one against three.
Theo dragged her out and shoved her forward. With her wrists tied she almost slipped, but turned and begged, “Please, get Melanie out of the cage.”
Theo laughed. “She was only in a dog crate while we prepared a room for her, never in any real danger. Witch, know that we’d never harm an innocent child.”
She breathed out in relief.
I suppose lying to heretics is okay.
“I’ll allow her to see you, but don’t think of using any emerging witch power.”
“How can I, since I have none?”
Lying to assholes is definitely okay
.
He scowled. “So where did those weeds come from?”
“That was pure coincidence. After the rains the weeds have overgrown throughout the property.” She shrugged. “Hard to get a good gardener these days.”
He gave her a hard look. “The powers have emerged but you must not be fully aware of them. Since there are no other local Aradia witches around, no one is available to train you.”
Maybe since she was too scared he couldn’t differentiate between a lie and raw fear. She glowered at him. “When my witch sisters find out, they’ll be pissed.”
“Only one is left and we believe she was killed by a zombie swarm. Anyway, she was old and never achieved flight.”
“You mean as in on a broom?” She’d accomplished flight by shovel, but why brag?
His two goons growled at her as she stepped to the farmhouse’s balcony. She walked inside and her heart jumped for joy. Her niece was alive and unharmed.
“Auntie Dora!” Mel ran and hugged her.
“Sweetheart, are you all right?”
“I want to be with Daddy Josh.” The child turned and scolded the fierce werewolves. “Why is my auntie tied?”
Chapter 17
Dora lifted her tied wrists to her captors. “I promise. I won’t cast any spells.”
“Auntie Dora!” Melanie screwed her face. “You’re not a witch.”
Mel was as spunky as ever and looked in good health. Dressed as if for the first day of school, her raven hair impressively combed in a looped ponytail. She wore a white turtleneck with a chic flowered blue corduroy jumper and matching blue leggings. Toys, kid board games and children’s books littered the living room. Candy Land spread out on the table as if the big bad wolves had been in the middle of a game with the half pint. It appeared Mel had the fierce werewolves wrapped around her fingers.
Girl power
. Dora smiled at her and turned to Theo. “That’s what I’ve been trying to say.”
Mel walked up to Theo. “Untie my auntie, please.”
Theo took out a dagger and sliced the rope. He gave Dora a hard look. “No funny business.” He tilted his head toward the window. “You know what’s out there.” The jarring moan of shuffling zombies was far more threatening than a pointed gun or a werewolf’s quick killing strikes.
“We know,” said Melanie. “The hungry people.”
“Don’t worry, honey, nothing will happen to you now that I’m here.” Dora reassured her with a hug.
Mel blinked back tears. “I don’t want to go with them. I want to go back to Daddy Josh!”
“Melanie, time for you and your aunt to go to bed. We leave early,” said Theo.
Dora held her hand and followed Theo upstairs to a kid’s room. It was a boy’s room, with trains and cars and a photo on a desk of him on a pony. A pair of boy’s pajamas lay on the bed. Her heart ached, wondering what happened to him. As gruesome as it was, children rarely turned because once ravished, there was never anything left of their tiny bodies. Fear of this happening to Mel staved her desire to grab her and flee. Escaping would require flight, something she’d not perfected well enough to handle with a child in tow.
“Can Auntie Dora sleep with me?”
Theo slowly exhaled. “No. She’ll be just next door in the guest room. Now be a good girl and say goodnight.” He switched on a nightlight.
Dora knelt down. “Be brave. I’ll see you in the morning.” She glanced at Theo, hoping he’d let her stay, but instead he pointed in the direction of the second bedroom.
Melanie pouted and sighed with a nod. “Okay,” she drawled. Dora kissed her forehead.
“Come, let the child sleep,” said Theo.
Dora waved at her and followed him out.
Theo closed the door. His mood darkened and he grabbed her arm, dragging her to the next room. He shut the door and shoved her on the bed, displaying his long canines. “Try anything, witch, and I’ll break your legs.”
“What can I do? We’re surrounded by zombies and it’s kind of hard to outrun werewolves,” she smirked.
He sneered. “You know, he’ll be coming for you.”
She raked her hair back and glared at him. “Dirk will not risk the child, but he’ll be pissed when he learns she wasn’t returned to my brother.”
“Actually, we’re looking forward to his arrival.”
“He’s not stupid. Three against one.”
Theo yanked her from her bed and fingered Dirk’s love bite on her neck. She cringed as he sniffed it. He let go. “Even if he was outnumbered by one hundred, he would still come. Because he’ll be especially dangerous, I have a surprise for him.”
A sinking despair swept through her. “I gather you don’t mean a box of kibbles.” She needed to know what their plans were before turning on
channel Dirk
. How could she help? She had no idea where they were. It was dark and the damn werewolf had not even bothered with headlights. At least Theo didn’t know they could communicate telepathically. Things would be so much worse if that were the case. In any case, they planned to lure him to his death.
Not on my watch.
“If you hear a commotion, don’t do anything. If you do, I’ll simply break down the gate and all those zombies will come in looking for you and the child.”
“Won’t that put a damper on your witch blood drive?” List of things to do: find out if there really is a ‘W’ blood type.
He shrugged. “It would, but we still have the possibility of that one witch in Europe if she’s still around. And if not, perhaps that will be the end of the witch-line and the threat of a dragon wizard abomination.”
Dora flinched from Theo’s penetrating stare, not at her face, but at the werewolf hickey on her neck. She covered it as if hiding her naked body.
I guess they frown on pre-marital sex.
Or did he think Dirk would break their pack treaty and actually marry her? Why else would he worry she might have his child? He loved her. Yet men through the ages married out of duty and still romanced their mistress. Like she would allow such a relationship. Her blood ran cold with jealousy at the thought of him bedding some hot werewolf
babe
.
She snapped, “What you should be concerned about is the Protean shifter who might be responsible for the creation of the Z-phage to destroy mankind.”
Theo stiffened and he widened his eyes. “You speak of the devil.”
“So you know of the Proteans?”
He slowly nodded. “The devil’s spawn takes the form of a man-like serpent.”
“I think this creature released the Bane.”
“How do you know this, witch?”
“I saw him in an underground lab where I was imprisoned.”
“Not possible, Proteans were sons of the devil and destroyed long ago.” Theo looked at her with deep-rooted hatred. “Liar!” He stormed out and locked the door.
How odd, he preferred to think God and not the reptilian shifters caused the Bane.
She walked over to the window and looked out from her second story room. The swarm of zombies stared toward her and Mel’s rooms. They reminded her of crowds of people waiting in line for the first sale of a new everything-at-a-touch electronic gadget that would make their life simpler. Except these customers sniffed the air and hummed moans from loud hungry ones to quiet whining ones. A tall zombie with long hair and a thick beard looked at her and smacked his lips. She shivered and stepped away.
It’d be impossible to climb down with the reception of zombies waiting to feed on the only live humans around probably for miles. She imagined flying over them carrying Mel on piggyback, but flight left her weak. What if she passed out from loss of energy? They’d be vulnerable to hungry zombies and stalking werewolves.
She sat on the bed and hugged the pillow, concerned with what nefarious trap they had in store for Dirk. Below, she heard Theo and his goons talking. Were they discussing Dirk’s demise? It was clear they had no intention of sleeping. She sensed they could not take her to their territory unless they killed Dirk. Of course, he would come for her. Of that, she’d no doubt.